[ti:Nicknames for New Orleans and Las Vegas] [ar:Barbara Klein] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more... [00:10.98]Now, the VOA Special English program [00:14.37]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:16.86]Many cities have interesting nicknames. [00:20.54]Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city. [00:25.37]They can also spread pride among its citizens. [00:29.40]New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames [00:34.87]than any other American city. [00:37.96]One web site lists more than twenty nicknames. [00:42.34]The most famous is The Big Easy. [00:46.38]It describes the gentle, slow [00:49.76]and easy-going way of life in New Orleans. [00:54.10]So how did the city get this nickname? [00:57.27]In the early nineteen hundreds, [01:00.55]there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy. [01:05.49]But the nickname did not become famous [01:08.52]until the early nineteen seventies. [01:11.91]That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer [01:17.08]began calling New Orleans by this name. [01:20.78]She compared the easy-going way of life there [01:25.11]to the hurried pace of life in New York City. [01:29.29]In nineteen seventy, James Conaway [01:33.13]wrote a crime novel called "The Big Easy." [01:37.22]The story was set in New Orleans. [01:40.81]In nineteen eighty-seven, [01:43.15]that book was made into a film [01:46.15]which made the nickname even more popular. [01:50.00]New Orleans has other nicknames. [01:52.99]One of them is The Crescent City. [01:56.73]During the nineteenth century, [01:59.86]new neighborhoods expanded out [02:03.00]from what is now known as the French Quarter. [02:06.76]These areas followed the great curve of the Mississippi River, [02:12.58]giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent. [02:16.37]Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz [02:21.05]because that kind of music started in New Orleans. [02:26.33]It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations [02:31.85]and parades that take place there every year. [02:35.98]And, there is a nickname that uses the short way [02:40.57]to write New Orleans and Louisiana. [02:44.35]It you do not want to use the complete name, [02:47.89]you can call the city NOLA. [02:51.37]One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada. [02:58.40]There you can play games of chance all night long. [03:03.78]The city's night clubs are also open all night [03:08.21]for eating, drinking and dancing. [03:12.04]So it is not surprising that Las Vegas [03:15.92]is called The Gambling Capital of the World [03:19.95]and The Entertainment Capital of the World. [03:24.09]Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City [03:28.91]because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there. [03:34.78]Many people who come to Las Vegas [03:38.32]in hopes of winning lots of money [03:40.91]do not know when to stop gambling. [03:45.00]They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money. [03:49.43]So the city is also called something [03:53.06]that sounds like Las Vegas ¨C Lost Wages. [03:58.07]In nineteen sixty-four, [04:01.25]Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas." [04:06.92]Here he sings the title song from that movie. [04:11.25](MUSIC) [04:42.06]This program was written by Shelley Gollust. [04:45.34]I'm Barbara Klein. [04:46.79]Go to 51voa.com for more...